1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video and audio recoding apparatus that simultaneously records video and audio signals output from a plurality of tuner units, and more specifically, to a video and audio recording apparatus having a remote controller that is provided with tuner switching keys for switching, in a predetermined order, a tuner unit which sets receiving channels or records the video and audio signals to be output, among the plurality of tuner units, whenever the switching key is operated.
2. Description of the Related Art
A personal computer has been suggested in which video and audio signals obtained from the received commercial broadcasting are converted into digital signals, and the digital signals are encoded to be recorded in an HDD. More specifically, in the personal computer, two television tuner cards having the same structure are inserted into a plurality of slots provided on a mother board. In addition, each of the inserted television tuner cards includes a tuner and an encoder for encoding video and audio signals output from the tuner. Therefore, when two broadcasting programs to be recorded are broadcasted in the same time zone, two broadcasting programs can be recorded in the hard disk drive at the same time (see the first related art).
Further, the following technique has been proposed (see the second related art). That is, when an image is displayed on a large screen by using 27 display devices composed of nine display devices by three display devices, nine types of video signals should be transmitted at the same time. Therefore, nine types of carrier signals having different frequencies are respectively modulated with nine types of video signals, and then the modulated signals are transmitted from one antenna through a mixer. Meanwhile, in the receiver side, since nine types of carrier signals are received, nine tuners are provided. In addition, the output of a receiving antenna is distributed to the nine tuners by a distributor. Thus, nine types of video signals required to be transmitted at the same time are output from the nine tuners, respectively (for example, see JP-A-9-139903).
However, when the first related art is used, the following problems arise. That is, the first related art is applied to a personal computer. Therefore, when a receiving channel is set, it is possible to simply designate a television tuner to be set from the television tuners mounted on two television tuner cards using, for example, a television screen and a mouse. However, when the first related art is applied to an HDD recorder, which is a kind of AV apparatus, using a hard disk drive as a recording medium, it is impossible to use the mouse. Therefore, a structure capable of simply designating the tuner unit to be set is needed. In addition, a structure capable of using only one additional key switch even when two or more tuners are mounted is needed.
The second related art is a technique for simultaneously transmitting a plurality of video signals. Therefore, this technique cannot be applied when a structure capable of simply designating a tuner to be set from a plurality of tuners mounted is required, or when a structure capable of using only one additional key switch even when two or more tuners are mounted is required.